This seminar is perfect for anyone who has gotten their feet wet with social media and wants to learn more about specific calls to action that drive website traffic, increase leads, and close open opportunities.

“Social Media III:  Planning a Social Media Campaign”

When: Wednesday, March 30

Time: 9:00am – 10:30am

Where: Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber

312 Marshall Avenue
Laurel, MD 20707
301-725-4000

Fee: $10 members, $30 non-member*

Description: “Social Media III:  Planning a Social Media Campaign”

Social media is the hottest marketing concept this side of the decade. But do you know how to get started? Creating a social media campaign is a great way to introduce your social media platforms to your customer base, while creating early wins for you and your organization.

In this seminar, you’ll learn the ins and outs of creating social media campaigns for Facebook, Twitter, and Mobile Marketing.  From contests and trivia games, to featured customers, storytelling, and polls, a social media campaign can be just the ticket to take your social media efforts straight to the big time. You will also walk away with a set of tools to help measure your campaigns and demonstrate ROI.

Hope to see you there!

*Send me an email and I will send you information on how to attend at the member rate of only $10! (That’s a steal of a deal!)

From a marketing perspective, the billion dollar wedding industry is one that many clamor to enter, but gaining market share is a challenge is this already competitive industry. However, Costco’s “outside of the box” (get it? ha!) thinking may be an alternative to the growing price conscious shoppers. The store uses the boutiques to sell wedding dresses, but also suggests vacation packages for the honeymoon, too. And don’t forget about the flowers. They sell beautiful bouquets of flowers on the cheap, and this new marketing opportunity will allow the warehouse store giant to increase floral sales – a market that has tremendous revenue potential with markups usually over 100%. The store also plans to introduce decorations and other wedding supplies. For the men in the bride-to-be’s life, they can pick up an engagement ring and wedding band all while picking out the new big screen and gallons of oil for their trucks. Talk about one-stop-shopping!

Many consumers however, are left scratching their heads. Buying a wedding dress is one of the most special moments of a bride’s life. Do bride’s really want to be trying on dresses with the sound of “Tommy to the seafood dept for cleanup,” on the PA system, or the sounds of moving boxes and beeping carts? Not to mention, the dust that tends to acquire in warehouse stores, no matter how much they clean?

I can see it now, mother of the bride, mother-in-law to be, and a few bridesmaids sitting in the small area helping the bride to pick out what will be the most beautiful dress she will ever wear. Oh, and their carts full of cereal, spaghetti, vacuum cleaner, and a year’s supply of toilet paper just outside of the pop-up dressing room. I for one, don’t see the “experience” in this scenario.

I wonder if society has yet to become that price conscious, where the wedding dress “discount” is a priority. I am also interested to see how much less the actual sale price of the Costco dresses vs. a bridal boutique with negotiating power and stellar bi-annual sales.

If a bride really needs a wedding dress that inexpensive, perhaps they should look at cutting costs elsewhere in the wedding. The dress is what people remember. Not the dinner plate or charger, not the foo foo decorations or terrible DJ. It’s the dress.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Some of you know how much I adore the leadership, tenacity, strength, and genius of Eleanor Roosevelt. And many of you know that the world is my oyster and I am looking forward to stretching my wings with a talented, creative, and forward-thinking company. I have a dream, and I believe in my dream. This quote really resonates with me, especially at this crossroads in my life. I look forward to what the future has in store for me!

THANK YOU to all of you that have supported me through this journey, and continue to be my biggest cheerleaders. The love and support you have shown is greatly appreciated! I don’t know how I would have made it through the rough days, and even the awesome days, without all of you.

As you may know, I’m transitioning from KatieBRoberts.wordpress.com over to this cute new space. I still have some decorating that needs to be done, so please bear with me. I hope to have the new digs all decked out by early next week. In the interim, please ignore the boxes and paint buckets!

Oh, and stay tuned for the House Warming party invite! Just like a real house warming, I will have games and prizes, all for my loyal fans! Aren’t you excited?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back work! Time is a wasting!

Read my summary of NASCAR Sponsorships and why marketers invest so much money for even the smallest of real estate.

Congrats to Trevor Bayne, the first rookie to win the prestigious race, just one day after his 20th birthday! Amazing!!

Want to play along with this weeks’ trivia? C’mon over to the AMA Baltimore Facebook page to play!

Did you notice Christina Aguilera’s flub during the National Anthem?

Here’s how the commercials break down:

Most people agree that Doritos and Chrysler stole the show. Between “Pug Attack” and “The Best Part,” Doritos showed off the outskirts of humor in the first half. Trivia: Doritos was the most tweeted about brand during the Super Bowl, according to Tweet Beat. Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” featuring Eminem tugged at the heartstrings of anyone that’s been down on their luck or has gone through a hard time. I imagine that Detroit dwellers felt it the most.

Volkswagen and Chevrolet topped the charts for automakers through creativity and humor. The “Black Beetle” was a creative blend of “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” using beetles at ground level overlaid with Ram Jam’s “Black Betty” tune, introducing the new VW Beetle. “The Force” was a popular pre-Super Bowl Day ad released about a week ago and made a Twitter top tweeted brands before the big day. Chevy showed who’s boss with the Silverado “Tommy” commercial and “Misunderstanding” which debuted a Chevy Cruze at a retirement home.

Both E-Trade and Career Builder know that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the way to go, leveraging the baby and monkeys in its commercials. The E-Trade commercial featuring the cat left the room laughing when the baby said, “I told you to get a flu shot.” Career Builder’s “Parking Lot” may have been the most satirical of the night. We’ve all been stuck between a job and a hard spot.

Bud Light hit home runs with several commercials, notably “Hack Job” and “Dog Sitter.” On the other hand, Budweiser didn’t live up to usual standards and had relatively flat ads that I don’t think I even remember. Let’s not even mention Stella Artois’ dismal “Crying Jean.”

The Coca-Cola vs. PepsiMax showdown was evident. Each took totally different directions in messaging this year. Coca-Cola’s “Border Crossing” was my favorite of those to choose from. I thought it was funny, but others thought it was stupid. Go figure. PepsiMax won the battle this year, in my opinion. “First Date” and “Love Hurts” were a hoot! Come on ladies, how many times do you wish you could shove a bar of soap in your mans’ mouth, or attempt to throw a can of soda at him for wandering eyes? Yep, thought so. “Torpedo Cooler” was great, too!

A few more commercials worth mentioning are Bridgestone’s “Carma” featuring a beaver who chops down a tree to stop a driver from continuing on a road into raging waters, Teleflora’s “Help me Faith” demonstrating how hard it is for men to come up with something heartfelt on Valentine’s Day, and NFL.com’s “Super Bowl Celebration” which included television highlight reels of shows featuring football snacks, jersey’s and games. Another commercial liked by many was Motorola Xoom’s “Empower the People.” And I can’t leave out HomeAway.com’s “Smush” (which I didn’t care for). I totally didn’t get Best Buy’s “Ozzy vs. Bieber” commercial, either.

Top 5 Best Commercials

Pepsi Max “Love Hurts”

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Career Builder “Parking Lot”

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eTrade “Cat”

YouTube Embed: No video/playlist ID has been supplied

Volkswagon “Black Beetle”

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Bud Light “Hack Job”

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Top 5 Worst Commercials
Stella Artois “Crying Jean”
Audi “Release the Hounds”
Snickers “Logging”
Groupon “Tibet”
Sketchers “Hello Shape up”

AMA Baltimore wants your opinion!

Vote for your Favorite Super Bowl Ads with our Survey! See if others agree with your or not!

After taking the survey, comment below with why you love your Top 5 commercials!

In case you didn’t know, there’s a big show tonight, and I’m not talking about men in tights, either! ha!

I am so excited about the commercials this year. Social media is going to play a big role in the ads, and they are expected to be better than ever. They better be with a cost of around $3.9 million a pop!
Yes, I know.. that number is usually inflated and it never reflects the rate card pricing.. which goes out the window for events like this. But it sounds good, right?

I am going to be your Super Bowl Commercial 411. I’ve got the inside scoop on when commercials are airing, pre-releases and more.

You want even more?

Okay..
Tomorrow check back here over at AMA Baltimore to get my take of the best and worst of commercials, and why I think they were a hit or flopped.

Brainzooming.com has created a #bzbowl game that allows players to collect points based on spotting traditional advertising cliche’s. This is going to be FUN.
As various Super Bowl ad cliches show up in commercials, check the items off your list and total up the points at the end of the quarter and/or game.
Prizes are optional.

Now, for the inside scoop…

Superbowl-Ads.com has released the commercial schedule. Seriously!
Take a look at what products air when, and be ready to take notes! Notice anything key about the products in slots before/after each ad spot?
Hmm..

I’ve already mentioned that social media is expected to be a big part of tonight’s ads. Here’s the skinny:
Social Media Gets Legs

Oh, and don’t forget to check in on Four Square to don your Super Bowl XLV badge!

Lots of brands have been getting pre-show buzz. Volkswagon is one of them.
Mashable has a Top 10 list of brands getting the most pre-show Twitter buzz.

Here’s a sneak peek at the VW commercial to air later today:

YouTube Embed: No video/playlist ID has been supplied

What brand are you most looking forward to seeing in the Super Bowl commercial dual?

With that said, I’ve had a few friends on Facebook that are a little overwhelmed with all of the marketing gab that I share. I don’t blame them – I wouldn’t want to read about what’s new in the SEC world. So, I have a new Katie B. Roberts Facebook Fan page.

Don’t worry, I’ll still share the important stuff with my personal Facebook page. BUT, I’ll have even MORE content over at Katie B. Roberts, the official fan page.

I also plan to do some specials, contests, and all the other cool and fun things I preach about… so you want to make sure you are in on the fun. Plus, it’s cool to be an early adopter of Katie B. Roberts, the official fan page. ha!

So here you have it…. “Like” Katie B. Roberts, the official fan page on Facebook .. and you’ll be in the know of cutting edge marketing information on a regular basis. That’s a guarantee!

Hope to see you in the fan club!

I’m a fence-sitter when it comes to video and using it in the marketing mix. I am not a fan of it on websites, yet I love it on Facebook and, well, YouTube of course.

Check out the rest of my opinion on this quickly-becoming-popular marking tool over on Linkedin:

AMA Baltimore Linkedin Group: Marketing Monday

Here’s the blooper reel of my last quasi successful video attempt: Watch Katie Screw up a 19 Second Commercial

Look at that awesome group!

Here are a few of the bullet points from the seminar:

If you’d like a copy of the presentation, download it here.
If you share this with others, please credit the author (ME!) appropriately. Lots of time went into that..

Stay tuned right here, on this blog channel. I’ll be exploring more of each of the topics in the presentation over the next few weeks.

Feel free to post your questions from the seminar or the presentation. I love to chat about social media, in case you haven’t noticed!

Or, if you’d like to chat about your current strategy and where you’d like to be, I offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation – just because I like you. Simply drop me a note and I’ll be in touch.

And one last thing….

I’m planning on conducting a 5-part webinar series that dives into the actual how-to of each of the platforms to grow your social media community. Each session will be 1 hour in length including time for Q&A, The cost will be $25 per session, or all 5 for $100.
If you are interested, please let me know. If I can get enough people interested, I’ll find a way to make this happen!